The holiday shopping season is here and with it, its inevitable companion, debt!  Who doesn’t overspend during the holidays?  Does it make it any better if that overspending is to the benefit of another?  We tell ourselves that it’s okay if our spending during the holidays is a little “out of control” if the end-result is a happy child, friend or family member AND we didn’t spend it on ourselves.  But is this really healthy?

According to the National Retail Federation, the average consumer spent a record $347.44 per person during the recent 2007 Black Friday holiday shopping event.  This is a marked increase of 4.8% over last year.  Add to that fact that the average family of four here in the US spends between $4000-6000 during the Christmas season and you can see how debt can accumulate quite rapidly during the old holiday season.

So what can you do?  How do you give your loved ones that “Christmas to remember” without getting yourself into knee-deep debt in the New Year?  Consider these 6 tips to debt proof your life this holiday season and start your holiday season out on a solvent foot.

1.  Cut your spending:  Seems simple enough.  If you spent $2000 last year, try to spend $1000 this year.  Not that easy to do though is it.  Mom and dad must have that new top of the line juicer and who is going to buy little Johnny that PS3 if not you?  Don’t consider eliminating the purchases all together, but if you can’t find a great comparison shopping deal on the items you’re looking for, then maybe something similar and cheaper may be the way to go.  Buy mom and dad a mid-range juicer and get little Johnny a Nintendo Wii - it’s cheaper and the better system anyway.

2.  Get organized:  So how many presents do you really need?  If you’re anything like me, I tend to always be surprised with unexpected gifts that need buying on a regular basis. Uncle Larry and his 4 kids are going to be visiting this year, no kidding?  Learn from my mistakes.  Make that list and check it twice - cut some people if you have to.  Plan a budget and stick to it and find out now who is coming and what needs to be bought if anything.  As for Larry and his 4 kids, consider a fruit cake or a popcorn variety mix can.  That will work well within your budget.

3.  Give an experience:  Thing outside the box this holiday season. Give your loved ones the gift of time.  Be creative and watch your holiday expenses plummet.  Give mom and dad a weekend of your undivided attention (or if they are like my parents, offer to disappear for a week altogether).  Take little Johnny to the zoo or plan a family holiday outing to the bowling alley.  Get creative and slice your expenses in half and reduce your gift giving stress at the same time. (more…)

Your credit score is an important part of your financial future.  If there have been blotches on your credit score in the past, you may want to start working on fixing them before they become stains.  Take advantage of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to get a copy of your credit report (free!) so that you can see what your current credit situation is.  Once you know your credit situation you can determine how to best fix it.  Not sure how much your current credit cards are really costing you? Make sure you check out our free credit card payment calculator to get an idea, then take the below steps to heart.

The following 5 steps will help you fix your credit - try them today:

1. Pay Your Bills on Time:  Paying your bills on time for even 1 month can raise your credit score by a number of points.  Paying your bills on time for 12 concurrent months will raise it quite a bit higher.  Putting together a written calendar or an on-line calendar can help you remember what days each bill is due.  Some online banking systems will even allow you to set up reminds for when your bills are due, take advantage of these if you have trouble keeping track of the dates.  Writing yourself reminds or setting up auto bill pay on your bank account or credit cards will also help, make sure that you will have enough balance in the account before the auto bill pay goes into affect so that you do not rack up unexpected fees for bounced checks or lack of funds.
2. Keep Your Credit Cards in Check:  The offer of 20% off at a local store to sign up for their credit card may be hurting your credit score.  Opening these accounts to get the discount and then closing them does not always help, closed accounts stay on your credit report for a number of months and may affect your credit score.  If you do use credit cards, manage them wisely.  Having low balances will incur less fees, and will make you look more responsible. On the other hand, maxing out your credit cards can lower your score and make you look like more of a risk.
3. Don’t rely on Bankruptcy: While bankruptcy will wipe away some debt, it does not wipe it all away and can actually cost you quite a bit to file.  Filing for bankruptcy can cost you anywhere from $300-$1000, consider how much debt you will actually be wiping out before you file.  Also, filing will be a bad hit on your credit score and in some cases can drop your score a few hundred points. Bankruptcy’s can be reported in some states on your credit report for up to 10 years, so think about your future as well as your current position before you file.  Some lenders will not even touch applicants that have a bankruptcy on their file. (more…)

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Welcome to the brand spanking new CAPC Debt Management blog!  Thanks for stopping by.  Many of you (are beloved customers) have asked for a blog and we have listened.  This blog is a DO FOLLOW blog so YOU COMMENT – WE FOLLOW and we are really looking forward to reading what you have to say.  The goal of this blog is to cover topics ranging from debt management and debt consolidation to credit card debt reduction as well as the discussion of various strategies to both repair your debt and to of course GET YOU OUT OF DEBT if you need to.  We want to help and this blog is dedicated to providing you with a place to discuss your problems, ask questions (in a civil manner) and to receive information on some of your more important debt-specific questions.

We here at CAPC Debt Management will also strive to provide you some great resources to review during each post and keep you up-to-date when possible on changes and/or news impacting various financial topics including credit cards, general debt news, and financial related topics that we may believe would be of interest to you the viewers.  Further, we want to hear from you, if you know of a debt/finance-related topic that you want us to write about, make sure to send us an email (blog at caprocessing.com) we will certainly get on that, ASAP.

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